obit
English
Etymology 1
From Anglo-Norman obit, Middle French obit, and their source, Latin obitus (“going down; death”), from obīre (“to go down, to die”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɒbɪt/, /ˈəʊbɪt/
Noun
obit (plural obits)
- (archaic) Death of a person. [14th–17th c.]
- (Christianity, historical) A mass or other service held for the soul of a dead person. [from 14th c.]
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 582:
- Medieval wills often contained bequests to pay for the singing of special (non-perpetual) masses on the testator's behalf. These obits, as they were called, combined alms for the poor with masses for the dead.
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 582:
- A record of a person's death. [from 15th c.]
Etymology 2
Clipping of obituary.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈəʊbɪt/, /əˈbɪt/
- Rhymes: -ɪt
Noun
obit (plural obits)
- (colloquial) An obituary.
- 2010 December 9, Roy Greenslade, “Don't laugh - new TV show is set on a newspaper obits desk”, in The Guardian:
- So a proposed US series, called Circling the Drain, is certainly breaking new ground. It involves a 25-year-old reporter (played by Caprica's Alessandra Torresani) who is reassigned from a paper's style section to its obits desk.
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Anagrams
- B. I. O. T., biot
French
Etymology
Latin obitus
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɔ.bit/
Audio (file)
Noun
obit m (plural obits)
- (archaic) death
Related terms
- obituaire
Further reading
- “obit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin
Verb
obit
- third-person singular present active indicative of obeō